Disposable Cameras By W/ Are The Daily Pic By Blake Gopnik

Disposable cameras, given to 24 artists to do with as they please, then offered for sale for $1,000 each – with no instructions for what the buyer should do with the camera, its film or the images on it (if any). This project, by W/ (pronounced “with”) of New York and on view at the NADA art fair, was one of my favorite works at this week’s artfest in Miami Beach. It poked fun at the obsessive act of shopping and choosing that art fairs are all about, and short-circuited any normal connoisseurial impulse. Buyers were simply asked to put themselves in the artists’ hands, and trust that good would come of it. If I were to buy one of these signed cameras, I’d keep it unopened, allowing hope and potential to rule the day.

For a full visual survey of past Daily Pics visit blakegopnik.com/archive.